


I'll Find You Again

by producertae



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2566520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/producertae/pseuds/producertae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a tragedy in the kingdom of Fukurodani, the King of the Owls searches for his lover and queen after their rebirth into the human world, hoping to help his queen remember their position by his side in his own world and to safely bring the queen home after years of loneliness. However, the queen's memories of the times of when they had wings have disappeared and it's up to the king to convince them that they belong back at home with him. </p><p>Owl King AU based off of Yaboybokuto's (on tumblr) artwork.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Haikyuu!! fic, but please feel free to give feedback. Also, please visit Yaboybokuto.tumblr.com ! Great, great artwork and really adorable stuff. (I'm a huge fan of the dancers AU they have too.) 
> 
> A slow chapter to start, but it's just a background sort of thing. Hope you like it. ((also mentions of violence but not... not really extreme.))

Once upon a time, a king and queen ruled at the head of a kingdom filled with brilliant people with wings so elegant that they nearly touched the floor. The kingdom was happy. The leaders were happy. Such was a place filled with knowledge and strength that they were highly respected in the lands. The Queen with a face so beautiful and hair so dark, and the King with his always entertaining expressions were happy with each other. They danced through the days, enjoying the prosperity of their kingdom. Flaws were nonexistent in their universe, sparkling with smiles and radiating with happiness as the sun rose and fell with each passing day. However, as the queen, king, and people lived their lives with joy and light, a dark shadow loomed in the corner of the kingdom, burning, burning, burning to get their hands on that light to strip it away from the kingdom.

The people of the kingdom loved their king and queen. The king was easygoing, lighthearted as he roamed the villages during the day and then devoted his time to the queen at night. The queen was elegant in herself. She seemed like she was bored, but truly, she hid her laughs and eye crinkling smiles with a turn of her head. The rulers were compassionate to their people, who adored them in return.

 

However, deep into the king’s past, there was someone else who he had planned to name his queen, before he had even met the current queen. It was a silly crush of his younger years, but he had been with that person for a while, inevitably cutting ties with that person when it was time for him to find a better suitor. Although he believed them to be friends… he did not love her as much as she loved him. The relationship ended with many apologies and tears, but the King simply couldn’t return the feelings. The King simply couldn’t crown that person the queen. They weren’t cut out for it at all, and the King couldn’t particularly imagine spending the remainder of his life with her either.

The rage grew in that person as she watched the King find someone else to love. That person watched as everyone was happy and couldn’t help but think “no… No one deserves this. I deserve that happiness! No one else deserves that happiness!”

 

After a festive day, the king and queen walked with each other throughout the palace, talking about the food and dancing and music that had come with the festival that had honored the powers of the queen and the king. It was only for a moment that the king had left, leaving to retrieve a gift that he had saved for his lover.

It was only for a moment that the queen was alone until the queen was attacked. The queen screamed, fighting back and attempting to at least get away, flying with those graceful wings, however the queen’s attacker persisted, dragging the queen back down and attacking her some more. The queen’s attacker pressed her to the floor, painfully ripping out the feathers on the queen’s back bunch by bunch as the queen cried out in pain, wriggling around in an attempt to save themself. The king ran back in time to see the attacker finally taking the wings off of the queen’s back.

The king cried out, quickly tearing the attacker away and fighting with all the anger that had built up from seeing his real love on the ground, in pain and bleeding from the back. Guards rushed in and handled the attacker so the king could hurry to his queen’s side.

The queen’s face was pressed against the cool tiles of the floor, eyes hazy as the queen looked up at the king, blinking slowly. The king apologized and apologized. It wasn’t any of the queen’s fault! It should have been him who could have taken the attack! The queen didn’t deserve any of this! The wounds were intense and with any movement, the queen would scream and cry. The king screamed, looking around as if anyone could help his queen.

 

The queen shook their head. “It’s alright. It’s alright….” The queen said, although it was clear from their pale faces that they knew the queen wouldn’t be able to make it.

 

The king screamed for the kingdom’s loss, brokenheartedly taking the feathers and blessing them another life. If the queen was wingless and dead, then… Then he would simply make the queen a human and pray.

 

He’d pray that he would be able to meet the queen again.

 

Such goes the tale.

The king spends the next years searching the human world, knowing that at some point he would be able to find his queen again, and then he could bring them back to his world and the queen would have wings and be alive again. Then, he would be happy.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I ran out of the hair salon in the middle of my appointment" guy and "I won't leave people alone" cat are giving Akaashi the creeps. He's getting real tired of all these new things and he's more annoyed when he invites a guest into his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wont be as dramatic as it sounds, sorry;;

He really hated the cold. He hated waking up every morning to shiver once the blankets were thrown off and he hated the touch of his bare feet on the freezing floor just so that he could shuffle and make his way into the bathroom to get his day started. Akaashi felt so monotone, brushing his teeth and judging himself, or rather his hair, in the mirror. His pajama pants were just about to fall off of his hip because he lost the string in the washer two days ago and nearly broke the damn thing trying to untangle it. All in all, it had been a pretty stressful week. And to top it off,  Akaashi didn’t even know why he was getting up so early on a Saturday.

He didn’t have anywhere to be. His friends didn’t invite him out and his parents weren’t expecting him to join them as they went shopping, which Akaashi knew as “we’re going shopping, and then we’re probably going to get sidetracked and stay out for the rest of the day, but there’s leftovers in the fridge so you should be alright if you’re alone.” He didn’t care. Akaashi dressed himself for the cold weather and ate something light, not expecting to be outside of the house for the whole day. He could probably come home and microwave himself some lunch and dinner, if that were the case. As he was taming his hair, there was a light rapping sound by the window and when Akaashi looked over, he saw a long, black tail. “Weird.” he mumbled to himself, setting down the hairbrush.

Their neighborhood usually didn’t get any cats. Or dogs. Or any pets, really. And how a cat could get somewhere near the small bathroom window on the second floor of the house was beyond Akaashi as well. He tiptoed over a laundry basket to look outside. “Weird.” he repeated. The cat was gone? He told himself that he must have been seeing things.

Akaashi shook his head, fixing the sleeves of his shirt before heading downstairs. Whatever it was, it wasn’t important enough for Akaashi to mind.

 

Outside, the black cat shivered and padded his way through an inch of snow, leaving little pawprints in his wake. “Do a guy a favor and this is what happens, dammit. It’s cold as hell out here. He owes me everything. For like a whole week.” the cat thought to himself, hurrying up ahead to stand beside a person who was on the sidewalk.

“Well?” The person asked, leaning down to pet the cat’s fur and dust off the snow.

“Sort of looks like him? But I couldn’t really tell.” The cat meowed, shivering. “Pick me up, I might just die of frostbite!” he complained, pawing closer until the man clicked his tongue and did as he was told.

“You’re a drama queen.” He muttered, curling the cat up so he could wrap his jacket around the both of them.

“Yeah, well consider that we could be at home right now, nice and warm, probably eating snacks or something, and here we are in the snow.” The cat complained, flicking his tail and settling his face somewhere near the person’s elbow. “You get to be all bundled up, Kozume, I think that’s all levels of unfair.”

The person let out a sigh. “You think anything’s unfair. There’s a game that I want to play. Let’s get home. Maybe you can tell Bokuto about him, if you have some suspicions.” Kozume sighed.

“He really does look familiar..”

  
  


Akaashi looked outside the window with a bewildered expression. What… just what the hell was that? Some guy was standing right outside his house and- was he talking to that cat? Akaashi shook his head. There was no reason for him to consider anything stupid. He had probably lost that cat or something and had found it by Akaashi’s house. It wasn’t uncommon for people to lose their pets, so Akaashi was sure that that was the reason. He waited for the guy to leave before leaving his house, being extra careful to lock the door. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust that guy from before, he just… had to be sure.

Marching through the snow wasn’t as hard as it could have been, and Akaashi was particularly thankful for that. He wasn’t sure what he was out walking for, but he figured that maybe the week’s irritation could fizzle out with a huge cup of hot chocolate from that one place he liked. Normally, he wouldn’t drink something so sugary, but it was a cold day. And he deserved it. Or at least, that’s what he told himself.

After Akaashi was crossing the street, he stumbled over an icy part of the road, barely being caught by some guy. “Oh. Thanks.” he said, looking up once taken his arm away from the person. His ‘savior’ blinked at him.

“No problem.” The guy muttered in an answer. Akaashi narrowed his eyes a little bit.

“You’re the guy from-”

“Sorry for bumping into you.” The guy said, hurrying away.

Akaashi swore he saw that black cat in the guy’s arms too. Slightly weirded out, Akaashi shoved his hands back into his pockets and glanced behind himself every now and then, just to make sure “Half finished dying session” guy and “Unlucky black cat” thing were gone. It must have been coincidence, Akaashi told himself, shaking his head.

Today was weird. Weirder than usual. “Hadn’t I seen that guy before? Does he go to my school?” Akaashi mumbled to himself. Really, it should have been easy to remember some guy whose hair was mostly blonde and fading at the roots. Who else in this whole city had that style of haircut and that color anyways? Akaashi tried to dig through his memory, only succeeding in making himself frustrated that he couldn’t remember. He walked into the small cafe with another shake of his head.

 

Outside, the man and his cat looked at each other and then back inside. “I told you he liked this one.” Kozume huffed, pulling his jacket around the two of them a little tighter.

“Okay, then Sugawara won’t have to worry about seeing him or not. We already followed him here, so the crows can handle it on their own. We’ve already been watching this guy for weeks now, I think it’s about time to head home.” The cat softly meowed, poking his head out of the jacket. A kid passing by pointed and laughed before getting pulled away by an apologizing mother and the cat possibly laughed a little bit.

“They can handle it… It’s cold and none of our business, Kuroo.”

 

Akaashi stood inside the cafe, looking out one of the many windows. Yeah, that was definitely the guy and his cat that he saw that morning. Maybe it was pure coincidence. This place was sort of popular and on a busy street. Akaashi huffed. No more unnecessary worrying. Placing his order should have been easy. It should have been easy. It should have been so damn easy if it weren’t for the guy behind the counter who was trying to shoo away a crow.

“Come on, shoo! Sit somewhere for a while, don’t get in my business!” The guy said, making the crow squawk and fly elsewhere. “That- he doesn’t usually come around.” The worker tried to explain with a bashful smile.

“And neither do you. You’re new at this place, right?” Akaashi asked. There goes him asking for anything complicated today. He didn’t want to confuse the new guy. Akaashi also wondered if having birds in the establishment were against the health code, but he didn’t question it for fear of a headache.

“Yeah, just started working. Sorry, what can I get for you today?”

Akaashi gave the other a wary look. “Just hot chocolate today, please, Sugawara-san.” He answered, having to read the name tag. If this guy was working there now, then Akaashi should probably get used to him due to the frequency of his visits. His order was placed and he took a seat to wait for his drink.

 

Sugawara, behind the counter, busied himself around and then crouched below the counter. “His face is familiar!” he whispered to his companion, a crow on the floor. “Really, his expressions are the same too. Maybe if he remembered who I was, then he wouldn’t have given me such a confused expression in the first place.”

“And we’re sure it’s him?” The crow asked. “Kuroo will tell us what he needs to, tonight, but that loudmouth is probably going to tell his friend before that.” He shuffled on the ground and stretched out his wings. “I get that we’re helping him out, but we’ve had a couple of false alarms that made him be dejected again.”

“Look, I’ve already got his name out of this. Bokuto’s going to have to trust us, isn’t he, Daichi?” Sugawara smiled, standing up and fixing the drink before standing beside the counter and calling out “Akaashi?”

Akaashi knew that something was strange when he had watched the new guy hide behind the counter, earlier. When he grabbed his drink, he gave Sugawara a confused look and a small mumble of “Thanks…” before leaving.

“Look, we creeped him out.” Daichi muttered from the floor once he heard the door close.

 

Akaashi wandered around outside, warm cup in his hands and extra careful for blonde guy and cat thing too. The last thing he wanted was to see them for the third time in the day. Now that he thought about it… he had been feeling more wary these past couple of weeks. A few weeks ago, he was sure that he saw that cat running around somewhere. Akaashi played it off as paranoia and disgustingly annoying coincidence that would lead him to even think that it was the same cat or that there was a cat at all.

On his walk home, after a small walk around the neighborhood, Akaashi disposed of the cup he had and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

He had other things to worry about, like volleyball and school and music too. He didn’t have time to worry about- “An owl beating up a black cat while some guy watches from the side.”

Kozume looked up.

Kuroo looked up.

The owl looked up.

Akaashi wasn’t pleased.

“I… lost him.” The guy answered lamely, pointing to the cat, who was on his back in the snow.

“Uh huh.” Akaashi said.

“He likes this place because of the snow.”

“There’s snow everywhere else in the city.”

“The owl pissed him off.”

“I’ve never seen that owl in my life. And aren’t they supposed to be asleep or gone or something?” Akassahi retorted, shifting his weight onto one hip.

If it weren’t for the cold outside, Kozume would have been sweating bullets. He looked at Kuroo, ask if to ask for help but what was a cat going to do if an owl was sitting on its stomach. Akaashi raised an eyebrow expectedly at them. “... We’ll leave right now.”

Akaashi watched the guy collect his cat, moving the owl off to the side, and then stuff the cat in his jacket while the cat made an annoyed sound. He didn’t say anything. He just watched the guy nervously and stiffly walk off of Akaashi’s lawn. “Be more careful with your cat.” He said and the guy, red eared, nodded, hurrying away.

Akaashi let out a sigh. How much weirder was this day going to get? He turned to head back to his house and instead was met with that owl, still staring up at him. “What? Go. Shoo.” he said, waving his hands a little bit. The owl simply stared. “You’re impossible, owl-san, get out of here.” He repeated, waving his hands. The owl didn’t move. “You’re going to get cold. Owl-san, shoo.”

Akaashi felt even more confused as the moments passed. “You’ll freeze to death... “ he mumbled, walking around the owl and heading inside.

He waited for the afternoon to pass, watching tv and wrapped up in a blanket on the couch. He waited for the evening to pass, shuffling around the house with that blanket still on his shoulders. Still, Akaashi checked outside when the sun had set, turning on the porch lamp to see the owl still sitting in the snow, probably cold. Akaashi groaned.

 

He grabbed an old rag and shuffled into the snow to bundle the owl and bring him inside. “Cats, crows, owls. I’ve actually had enough of animals today. You should consider yourself lucky, Owl-san.” he grumbled, turning on the heater and placing the owl on the floor. “If you move around and cause a ruckus, I’m going to put you back outside."

  
A cat stood by the window, paws up so he could look inside. “That bastard actually got in the house.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owl-san seems to have disappeared! And no, Akaashi isn't sad at all. He's rather relieved. He didn't need the bird's company anyways. He wasn't worried about the owl either, no way. He was probably just... okay, maybe the owl had grown on him a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry;;

 

“You’re a hassle.” Akaashi had told him as he had scrolled through the first couple of links he found on google on how to care for your pet owl. He didn’t intend to keep this little guy for longer than he had to, but it would probably be good to at least know what to do to keep the owl from making his life a living hell. So far though, the owl didn’t really do much. “You’re just sitting there. But you’re still a hassle.” he told him. The owl sat on the edge of the desk in Akaashi’s room now, when it had been clear that it wasn’t going to scratch Akaashi or “rip him to shreds” with that sharp beak or claw things of his. That’s what Akaashi called them. “Wow look, this place actually gives me ten reasons not to have a pet owl.” He said, looking over at the owl and its huge eyes. “I could get in lots of trouble for having you here.” Akaashi clarified, gesturing to his laptop. Again, the owl still stared.

He sighed in resignation, continuing his searches. “Look- ‘pet owl alternatives’. You know what this is telling me? It says that nobody should even be hosting an owl.” Akaashi added, huffing in the owl’s general direction. The bird didn’t even look phased. “If I keep picking you up around the sides, you might get angry and bite off my fingers.” Akaashi shrugged. He needed those fingers. But it wasn’t like he was going to keep the owl long enough to that point. He expected to release this guy maybe… “tomorrow, you’re out of here.”

The owl shuffled closer, turning its head this way and that which made Akaashi oddly uncomfortable. Akaashi inched a little bit away. The owl inched closer. This continued until Akaashi was at the end of his desk, giving the owl an offended expression. “Go back.” he ordered, watching in pure amazement as it turned and clunked its way to the other end of the desk. “Weird. Just weird.” Akaashi whispered to himself, slowly moving closer so he could continue his google search.

It took practically forever to figure out what kind of owl was sitting on his desk, and even then, Akaashi wasn’t sure if he was right. There were so many feelings of “God this is wrong” going through Akaashi’s head that he was sure god send this owl to punish him in some way or another. “If this is for scaring off that guy and his cat, then I’m sorry and you can go home, Owl-san.” he said quietly, leaning closer to take a look at the bird.

There was slam of the door downstairs and Akaashi nearly jumped out of his seat. He put a hand over his heart and took a deep breath. They weren’t going to believe him anyways. He opened his bedroom door and poked his head out. “Mom, I found an owl in the yard. I have it in my room.”

“Don’t you need a licence to keep owls, Keiji?”

“Yeah.” Akaashi answered, glancing behind him. There was a little while of silence from  downstairs.

“Make sure he gets back outside soon. Don’t let him scratch you, or else you’ll be in big trouble.”

Well. Those conditions were easier to go by. Akaashi shrugged and closed the door, looking at the owl again. “You need to get out of here soon. One night until eviction. Got it?” He asked, although he knew the owl wasn’t going to be able to answer him at all.

When it was time to go to bed, Akaashi searched around the house until he found an old shoe rack that he was able to use with some little children’s soccer goal toy to make as a crate for Owl-san. “That’s for you tonight. When I wake up, I want to have all my fingers, toes, and eyes and no scratches.” Akaashi said, gesturing to the crate. The owl blinked at him. “Hop in.” he said, pointing to it again. The owl made a small noise and shuffled its way in. “It creeps me out.” Akaashi muttered. “That you understand human words.” He closed the gate and kept it in place with an old box full of books. “I know you’re nocturnal but keep quiet tonight.” Akaashi mumbled, leaving the room to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.

Not being all that merciless, Akaashi didn’t close the curtains all the way, allowing a bit of the outside scenery to be shown. “Good night, Owl-san.” he sighed, making himself comfortable in bed so that his back was turned to the owl. It took a little longer for Akaashi to fall asleep that night, although beautiful feathers filled his vision as he drifted off to sleep.

 

Owl-san waited until he was sure Akaashi was asleep (and that his parents were asleep as well) before starting to nudge the box of books away. How was he supposed to get a closer look if there was this lame excuse of a cage in his way? Humans always managed to surprise him in the weirdest kind of ways. He stretched out his long wings, shaking his head. Akaashi wouldn’t tell him to stop if he didn’t know that he left the cage. Besides… it was getting a little cramped in there, for his stature. The owl stretched his wings out forward before lifting himself off the ground to land on the windowsill.

“He looks just like him.” Owl-san thought to himself, turning his head this way and that to look closer at the sleeping Akaashi. “But this is getting a little creepy.” He hopped off of the windowsill, stretching out his back until a small puff of air came and Owl-san groaned, reaching his arms to the ceiling and stretching out his back. “God, the floor’s cold….” he mumbled to himself, wiggling his toes on the wooden floor before straightening out his regular clothing. Well, his crown was back at home, but that was beside the point.

Being stuck as an owl really made the King’s wings cramp up in an annoying kind of way. Thank god that Akaashi was asleep. Akaashi… Owl-san sighed. Leaning over to take a proper look made him smile softly. Even after all this time, he was amazed by the beauty of the other, feeling that all too familiar beat in his chest. Yeah, he was… just like the one he had lost so long ago. After all of this searching, he was so sure that he found him again.

There was a rapping at the window again and the King opened it up, wincing at the puff of cold air that blasted into his face. “Kuroo!” He whispered, although his “whisper” was just hushed talking.

“Shh!! That brat finally fell asleep, you can’t have him wake up.”

“Hey, “that brat” is my queen, you ass. Besides, it’s been forever and we finally found him! Now we can just go home and-”

“Not so fast!” Kuroo said, pressing a chilly paw onto the King’s mouth. “Listen , Bokuto, this guy already has a life here. You can’t just… I dunno. Shove him back into the wings that he’s supposed to have. We all know you’ve waited for this day, but don’t you think it’s unfair? Hell, he doesn’t remember any of us.”

Bokuto’s bright smile had slowly started to disappear. He had just managed to find his queen, but it wasn’t like he remembered being with Bokuto at all. He probably didn’t remember how beautiful their home was, or what his wings looked like. “So now what?” He asked in a more hushed voice, looking over at the sleeping figure on the bed. “We can’t just… wait for him to die, to take him back.”

“I don’t know.” Kuroo shrugged, twitching his ears. “But I’m sure you’ve got some fancy shmancy magic shit to pull to help him. Maybe wait until he actually cares for you? He just thinks you’re an annoying owl.”

“He’s always thought I was an annoying owl.”

“You know what I meant.”

Bokuto chewed on his lip. After all this time… after searching and searching with the help of his friends, who devoted their time to him too, he found his queen. His queen was quite literally right here, sleeping beside him. But he was a human. He needed to come back to Bokuto’s world, where he belonged, but he had to wait, and wait, and wait…. Bokuto felt like he had done enough waiting. “When I’m not busy, I’ll head home and bring some of his feathers here. Maybe if we can just get him to remember a little bit, then…”

“You know humans freak out when they see talking animals, right?” Kuroo said, scooting further onto the windowsill so that he wouldn’t fall down. “I hope you can figure out a way to get your words across without scaring the hell out of him.”

“I’ll figure something out.” Bokuto promised. “Hey, how the hell did you get all the way up here anyways?” He watched the cat wink and lazily swipe his tail into the air.

“Stay the night with him. He’s probably dreamt about his past life before. You’ll just have to get that out of him. For now, It’s time I head back to my own castle. Lots of pillows waiting for me there. See ya later, “owl-san”.” Kuroo snickered, making Bokuto scrunch his nose up and close the window. God, his friend could get annoying sometimes.

Bokuto sighed, slumping onto the floor beside Akaashi’s bed. He was a decent man, sure to give Akaashi his space while he was sleeping, although once upon a time, when they were together, Bokuto would curl his wings around the both of them and they’d sleep in one little cocoon of sorts. But right then wasn’t “once upon a time” anymore and Bokuto had to come to terms with it.

Akaashi didn’t remember him. Just like how he didn’t remember Sugawara, or Kenma, or Kuroo’s signature feline look. But Bokuto remembered how it was to walk beside him, to tell cheesy jokes and watch Keiji attempt to hide his laugh. He remembered dancing with him when Keiji was in a content mood, and he remembered silently stroking the other’s feathers when he wasn’t feeling happy. Dancing through the days was a memory that Bokuto wanted to create again. But he would wait.

 

He’d waited all of this time anyways.

 

He stretched his wings out again and brought them in close, with a puff of air turning back into that reserved, owlish form which gave him the name “Owl-san”. To Akaashi, he wasn’t yet “Bokuto”. He was far from “Koutarou.” But “Owl-san” was a start.

Bokuto wiggled his way back into the metal cage and pulled the box in, hoping that Akaashi wouldn’t notice anything when he woke up. The King spent the night sighing and imagining what it would be like again, once Akaashi could remember all the time they spent with each other.

 

Days passed and Bokuto was persistent in staying at Akaashi’s house. The human groaned, picking up the owl around the middle (as uncomfortable as that was to Bokuto) and placed him on the porch of his house. “It has almost been a week already. Please go back home, Owl-san.”

Bokuto would have laughed.

Akaashi had a mini staredown with the owl who should have probably been resting, had it not been for Akaashi’s need to get rid of the owl. “I’m going to school. And i’m not letting you into the house.” He clarified, only for Bokuto to make a small noise in response. Akaashi shook his head, pulling his backpack onto his shoulders to set off, walking around that little companion of his. He didn’t bother to look back until he was further down the road. Seeing no owl, Akaashi went ahead and continued on to school.

They had morning practice that day, last practice before holiday break actually, thinking that nobody really wanted to stay after for practice, so they all might as well wake up early enough for club. “Akaashi, over here!” Someone called out, and the setter was able to time himself properly without falling over. There was a hit, then a block, and Akaashi let out a silent, frustrated sigh.

“Sorry, it was a little low, wasn’t it.” He said, running a hand through his hair.

“Have you been getting enough sleep? You usually don’t toss so low.” One of his teammates asked. Akaashi shook his head.

“Don’t worry, it’s alright. Let’s get the next point.”

The scrimmage continued until the coach told them to stop. Time had flown and Akaashi wasn’t aware of it. Rather, he was busy thinking about that damn owl who would probably be waiting at his front step by the time he got home. It’d been like that for a whole week already and Akaashi was seriously considering asking for help about it. But he didn’t.

 

The school day passed distractedly for Akaashi, who drew feathers in the corners of his papers and thought about what disasters would happen if he let Owl-san roam around his house. Surely, things would break, and the couch would be torn by the other’s talons, and- oh was that the bell already?! Really, Akaashi had been out of it for the whole week. That persistent owl wasn’t thinking about leaving Akaashi alone and it was sort of creepy and amazing at the same time. He could only thank god that winter break was starting.

On his way home, Akaashi bought oven mitts and a soft brush. Maybe… if he couldn’t shoo away the owl, then he could just make sure that it would be alright until the season changed again. He hadn’t even realized why he was buying the items until he walked out of the store with a bag in his hand. “Damn.” he cursed to himself.  He didn’t want to get too connected to the owl, but then again, he’d already named him, and the owl wasn’t really going anywhere. What was the downside to it anyways, other than it being illegal.

However, when Akaashi arrived home, that fluffy bird wasn’t waiting on the doorstep. “Owl-san?” he called out, looking around on the sides of his house and in the bushes, just out of luck.

Akaashi clicked his tongue.

He couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Really, he’d gone through all this trouble, making him a little home inside of his room, buying stuff for him, just for him to be gone when he had gotten home. He tried to convince himself that it was what he wanted anyways, that he didn’t need the feathery companion to look over him as he was doing his homework or make little noises when he wanted to move around Akaashi’s room. Really, Akaashi didn’t need the company and he didn’t need to be fascinated by the pretty feathers that he’d drawn in his notebook during the week at least eight hundred times. He didn’t need Owl-san anyways.

Akaashi spent a few more minutes on the porch waiting. Disappointed, he clicked his tongue again and went inside. How stupid was he, for waiting for an animal.

 

However, Bokuto wasn’t going to be gone forever. He was back in his own world, pacing around the tiled palace floors with his wings dragging behind him a little bit. “Dammit, how does one make a necklace anyways?!” He asked in frustration, holding his queen’s feather’s in one hand and a thin, leather strip in the other. “Can’t we just ask Sugawara about this kind of stuff, huh? Komi, come on, give me a hand, I’m dying!” He complained, turning around to look at his friend. This guy had been one of his knights for the longest time, and he was extremely reliable at that.

“Seems like you’ve got an issue.” The knight answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He stretched his arms much above his head and stretched his wings out behind his back as well. “Ha. Not my issue.”

“Komi,” Bokuto whined, “It’s already past that time already, he’s probably back home and I’ll have to wait in the cold. In the snow. Of coldness.”

“I dunno how he puts up with you.”

“Please?” Bokuto pleaded, holding out the feathers and strip to him. Komi eyed him for a bit, eyes narrowing as he considered it. “Honest to god, I’ll let you choose whatever food you want for the next festival, I promise.”

“Alright, I’ll hold you to it.” Komi sighed, taking the strip and feathers. “I’ll only need one of these too, you know.” he said, picking out one that wasn’t too long. “Put the rest back where you found them or something and come back in about ten minutes. I can’t have you breathing down my neck.” he rolled out his shoulders. “Cramps my style.”

“...Cramps your style?”

“Shut up.”

Bokuto left and returned as he had said he would, seeing his friend attach one last metal clasp to the end of the leather. “And done. Hope you don’t mind, I added prettier things to it  too. There were some leftover beads that the ladies had and-”

“Nonono, it looks good. I’ll just. Give it to Keiji.” Bokuto said, taking the necklace in his head and nodding. “You’re the best Komi.” he grinned brightly, opening up his wings so he could hurry and take flight down the hall, weaving his way out of his castle and into the air. Time to go back to the human world to deliver this gift!

Meanwhile in the human world, Akaashi sulked, pencil scribbling slowly on the page of homework that wasn’t due until Tuesday. He felt pathetic, attempting to do his homework on a Friday and even more that it was too late and cold to return the things he had bought. At least for this past week, he hadn’t seen that weird guy and his cat. Really, they would have added onto his troubles and thank god he didn’t have any-

Another sound at the window.

Akaashi huffed in frustration, pulling back the curtain quickly, just in case he could catch that god damned ca- “Owl-san?”

Of course, Owl-san didn’t answer him back. It wasn’t like he could in the first place.

“You-” Akaashi opened the window. “You’re such a hassle!”

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Owl-san is safe, Akaashi doesn't have to worry as much. At least, it wouldn't have been if some embarrassing guy hadn't slid on some ice and crashed into him and- h-hey, is that guy really alright? He hit his head hard on the pavement!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Brushies" just to compliment yaboybokuto's caption on their artwork that said "when bae gives you hte brushies". Quoted directly. Ah, I hope you like this;;

 

“You can’t just freeload like that. If you’re going to go, then go, and if you’re going to stay, then just stay.” Akaashi scolded Owl-san, shaking his finger for emphasis. He knew that it really wasn’t working in making the other intimidated by him, and it really wasn’t helping that Akaashi was a little fearful of the intactness of his finger if he continued to wiggle it in front of a bird of prey like Owl-san. With a huff and a scrunch of his nose, Akaashi stepped away from the window, inviting him in. “Come inside…” he mumbled, not really that surprised anymore when the bird willingly flew in and landed on the makeshift cage. “A hassle…” Akaashi repeated, sitting on his bed, facing the cage. “Alright, what’s that.” He asked, gesturing to the small bundle clamped in the bird’s talons. “If you brought me a rat or something… you’re going back outside.”

For once, Akaashi heard a deep “Hoo!” rather than that weird murmur that the bird did. Raising his eyebrows, Akaashi shifted forward so he could rest his elbows on his knees. Maybe it was to show that he was listening.

Bokuto was overjoyed! If owls would wag their tail feathers like how dogs could wiggle their rumps in appreciation, he would be doing that just then. He made another deep rumbling sound. He wiggled around on the cage before spreading out his wings and tucking himself in again. Akaashi watched, amazed and still slightly creeped out. Bokuto thought to himself. What could he do? He had to give his gift to his queen, after all! “Hoo. Hoo!” he crooned, shuffling on the wired cage before simply dropping the necklace from his talons. Akaashi watched the necklace fall before hesitantly reaching towards the ground and picking up.

“Now what’s this… You didn’t steal it, right?” Akaashi mumbled under his breath, scooting back onto the bed so he could cross his legs. “Hey, this is nice, though.” Akaashi thumbed through the light touches of the feather hanging there. It wasn’t all that long, rather small. Maybe just the size of his pinky. “You have an owner, don’t you? Are they sending you to me?” Akaashi continued to speak, but it wasn’t as if Bokuto could answer him anyways. He was typically silent throughout the rest of the day anyways and speaking to a bird was way easier than anything else.

 _“Bingo, bingo!!”_ Bokuto thought to himself. Maybe if he could nab himself a human form, this could have been a whole lot easier. He ruffled his feathers out and watched Akaashi play with the necklace, running his fingers along the smooth beads and inspecting the metal latch at the ends of the necklace. It was elegant, something that he could easily tuck into his shirt and have no problem with.  

“Well…. Thanks….” Akaashi sighed, setting the necklace onto the side of the bed. “I have something for you too, I guess.” Maybe his money would be put to good use. Akaashi hopped off of the bed and rummaged through a plastic bag before showing the brush and mitts to the bird. “See, since we don’t have one of those actual glove things for your talons, I just thought… And they’re new, so…” He explained. “And a brush? Because… Because yeah.” Akaashi took his spot, cross legged on his bed again before taking the tags off. “This will take… coordination. If you pierce my arm, you’re out of here.”

No matter how many times Akaashi threatened the bird with eviction, it never really seemed to happen anyways. “Alright… alright.” Akaashi mumbled, trying to make himself a little braver. He really didn’t want to be scrached. But Bokuto knew that. He also wanted to keep Akaashi’s soft pale skin intact as well. “When you’re ready.” Akaashi said, tapping his oven-mitt-arm thing and turning his head in the other direction, as if a little scared.

If Bokuto could have rolled his eyes, he would. There was no way he was going to hurt Akaashi. He never had before, and he never will. That was a promise they made each other a long, long time ago. Bokuto’s wingspan made him a little fearful of the lamp in the room, but hey, he made his way onto Akaashi’s hand without fail. He was especially careful not to hold on too tight. Akaashi opened his eyes that he’d closed in a little bit of fright. “Oh.” he said, seeing the owl much closer than before. “Alright… Uh…” he stumbled over his words, still a little bewildered that this bird was on his arm.

The bird was a little heavier than he thought he was going to be, but whatever. Akaashi could handle it. “So the… brush, right?” Akaashi said, reaching out with his free hand to blindly grab onto the brush beside his knee. Bokuto looked at him expectantly.

Akaashi took a deep breath in and released a deep breath as well.

 

Wow. It really wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be.

 

Winter break had started, meaning that Akaashi had a long time to spend with Bokuto in the house while his parents were out working or going with each other to places in the city. Akaashi didn’t mind. He learned how to brush Owl-san without the other being too displeased, and the routined continued like that. Akaashi would wake up, get ready, leave the house for a little bit, and then come back. When he got back, Owl-san was brushed and then Owl-san napped for a bit in his room or he went outside until nighttime. Akaashi never bothered to see where the owl went during the times he let the other into the yard or out his window, but it wasn’t like he wanted to know anyways. Before Akaashi went to bed, he would brush Owl-san once more and then go to sleep.

One night, Bokuto popped back into his regular self, stretching his human limbs yet long feathers on his back until he was comfortable again. Once he was sure Akaashi was asleep again, he’d lean on the window and talk to Kuroo. “So?” the cat asked him.

“So, he’s giving me the brushies.”

“You sound like you’re five.”

“You sound like you didn’t get any brushies.”

Kuroo groaned. “Shut up, man.” he said, stretching himself onto the window frame. “Did your bird brain come up with any ideas? You’ve been with him for a little while now.”

“I highly doubt that a week plus a couple days means that I can take him back home.” Bokuto retorted. “But… I’ll get myself a human form. Maybe use my suave powers to get myself a date or two. We’ll see how it goes from there.”

“And if he rejects you?” Kuroo asked flicking his ears. “I mean, you could keep heading back to that cafe to talk to Sugawara or Sawamura but I doubt that they’d try to set you up on a date. It took a while for Akaashi to get use to Sugawara in the first place.”

Bokuto shrugged. “I’m persistent. He’ll probably give in eventually… I mean- not in a bad way! It’s just that it’s still his soul, you know? So somewhere, deep deep down I’m really hoping that he’ll give me a little bit of a chance. Watch, watch, tomorrow, I’ll place my oh so smooth moves on him and he’ll just swoon.” He said, smiling excitedly. To that, Kuroo didn’t have any words.

Closing the window without giving Kuroo a chance to think of a decent comeback that would make Bokuto embarrassed for weeks, he fixed the curtains and puffed back into his owlish form, obediently tucking himself back into the cage like he’d been doing for the past week. The real issue for him to think about that night was how to be able to sit down and have a decent conversation with Akaashi, disguised as a human too. Getting Akaashi to talk to him that very long time ago was hard, so he could only expect that this human Akaashi would be just as difficult.

 

In the morning, Akaashi dressed himself and got ready as he usually did, sighing when he came back inside and saw Owl-san awake. “Aren’t owls nocturnal? You should be resting at least a little bit.” Akaashi scolded, shaking his head while he pulled a scar around his neck. “Time to go. I’m heading out.” he said, opening the door and watching the owl follow after him as best as he could without hitting his long wings against the doorframe. Owl-san waited by the door (sort of like a loyal little puppy, but Akaashi didn’t want to potentially anger the bird in that way) and Akaashi tucked his feet into his shoes. “See you later, Owl-san.” He said, leaving the house and locking the door before he made his way onto the sidewalk and towards the cafe he liked.

Bokuto waited until Akaashi had been long out of sight before hurrying overhead and trying to beat Akaashi to that cafe. Surely Sugawara would help him! After all, he had only taken the cafe job to help out Bokuto a little bit, when he could have been back doing whatever the queen of Karasuno did. Hopefully, Kuroo had told Sugawara about his little plan or else the other was going to be in for a surprise. Bokuto nearly busted through the back door of the cafe, not paying attention and flying into it painfully. He let out a pained “God dammit!” and hooted around, shaking his head.

Thank god Sugawara poked his head out of the back door, crouching down when he saw the flailing owl. “Hey, hey! Stop that! Was it you who hit the door? You know there was a lot better alternatives to get my attention.”

“It wasn’t my intention in the first place!” Bokuto said. If owls could pout, he would be giving Sugawara the worst pout of the century. “Hey, help me out. I need human clothes. I’m gonna try and get a human form reeeaaal quick because if I’m right, Akaashi’s gonna be here at any second and I have to talk to him or something, or at least introduce myself so if you could please just-”

“I’m in my work uniform. There’s someone else on shift with me, so I can bring you the hoodie I was wearing earlier…? Oh! It’s got little wings printed on the back!” Sugawara laughed. “How fitting. Ah, just gimme a sec.” he said, standing up and heading back inside.

“A lifesaver, you’re seriously a lifesaver!” Bokuto said, spreading his wings open and closing them happily. Just like Sugawara said, he was back outside, closing the door behind him. Bokuto ruffled his feathers a little bit, closing his eyes and trying to figure out how to make a human form. Truth be told, he hadn’t really tried it before, and- “There!” He said, putting his hands onto his hips. He had some pretty standard clothing.

“Because all humans have tiny wings coming from out of their backs, right?” Sugawara asked with a small laugh that he tried to hide behind a hand.

“Wings? I don’t- god- god dammit!” he cursed, shivering and taking the hoodie from Sugawara to shove onto his own head. “Close enough!! I’ll just fold them back in this sweater or something, it won’t be that noticeable, hmph.” he complained, pressing his wings tightly against his back, even though he hated the feeling a lot. “I’m just… I’ll sit next to Akaashi or something. Thanks, Sugawara. Tell Daichi I said hi.” Bokuto said before dashing around the building again to get to the front.

What he didn’t know was then when you’re in a rush, that means you’re running. And running during the winter is bad. It’s bad because there’s a ton of snow and that snow gets stomped on a lot and turns into some weird ice slush that Bokuto was now sliding on, wiggling his arms out to stop himself from falling down and hitting his face on the pavement and oh god he hated gravity so much and- “OOF!”

Just his luck, he clipped shoulders with someone and sent himself falling onto his back and the person he hit falling right onto his shoulders too. Bokuto let out a groan. The back of his head really hit the pavement. “Ugh…” he groaned again. “Sorry, sorry. I was in a rush…” He said, opening his eyes. Some people had passed by him and the person he hit but didn’t stop to ask if they were alright, which Bokuto found a little ridiculous.

“H-hey, are you alright?” The person asked, trying to get up again without slipping on the ice as well. He ended up kneeling beside Bokuto and helping him to get up. Bokuto nodded, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Seriously, that hurt a lot.

“Stings a little bit, but I’ll live. Ouch…” Bokuto sighed. So much for meetin Akaa-

Akaashi.

“Are you alright?” Akaashi asked him again. Bokuto felt embarrassed. The first conversation that they’ve had in forever and he makes them both hit the floor. How embarrassing! And since he landed on his back, his smaller wings were feeling really crushed and burning with a bit of pain.

“Yeah.”

“You’re not alright.” Akaashi frowned, attempting to fix his scarf around himself before standing up and helping Bokuto to stand. Bokuto didn’t even know that he could get this dizzy. “Hey, be careful- you can’t hit the pavement again.” Akaashi said, putting his hands on Bokuto’s shoulders. “Are you seriously going to be alright?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Let’s go to the emergency quick care place.”

“Mmhm- wait, no, no nono.” Bokoto retorted, shaking his hands in front of him to show that he didn’t want it. At Akaashi’s confused expression, Bokuto answered “I don’t… do well in hospital settings.” Akaashi didn’t seem to buy the lie, but he didn’t question it either. “But my head does hurt a little bit-”

“Do you live nearby? I can help you get home.”

“A-Ah, no, I just moved here. I’m looking for a place? My stuff’s all in storage and I’m staying at a hotel.”

“Then I could get you to the hotel.”

“W-well, it’s all the way downtown. I doubt that I could burden you like that.”

Bokuto was just spewing lies now, feeling all the more guilty about it as he continued to rub the back of his head and how he had wanted to really get someone to look at his wings because ouchouchouch he landed on them in the worst way possible, and he was all tensed up too. Not to mention that Akaashi was giving him that “my face says I don’t really care but I’m so frustrated with you right now” expression that he often got when Akaashi was about to scold him. “I’ll get you a drink then. But you have to sit in the cafe for a while.”

 

A while in the cafe, sitting with Akaashi, warm drinks, and a cold setting? Wow. More convenient than Bokuto thought it was going to be.

 

At least, that was the payment for his embarrassment and little bit of pain.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Short Chapter-  
> Akaashi and Bokuto have literally run into each other and sit down to have a decent conversation. Bokuto reflects on this and has some feelings which could only be good or bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than before, sorry;;

Sugawara had risen his eyebrows at the sight of Akaashi helping Bokuto into the little cafe and having him take a seat beside the window where Akaashi usually sat. “Is your friend alright, over there?” Sugawara asked, already punching in numbers for the usual that Akaashi asked for. Akaashi simply sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“He ran into me and hit his head on the sidewalk. He tried playing it off but he hit his head pretty hard.” Akaashi plucked money out of his pocket. “Oh- Something easy for him too, please.” The cashier nodded his head and then took the money from Akaashi, handing back change. “Thanks.”

Back at their little booth, Bokuto pressed his forehead against the cold glass of the cafe. Oh god, his head was just pounding and it felt extremely awful. If he had the chance to redo his first real encounter with Akaashi, then he would definitely choose to redo it. He didn’t mean to just run right into the queen and send them falling to the ground. It was really just so embarrassing! He could have had some better, heartfelt reunion if it hadn’t been for the icy ground. Such a hazard, ice was, that Bokuto would have wanted to complain a lot and refuse to walk. He’d rather fly everywhere than risk hitting his head on the pavement again. Ouch! Bokuto winced, putting his forehead onto the table and putting his hands on the top of his head.

If they were back at their actually home and Akaashi remembered him and hadn’t been brutally murdered, there was no doubt in his mind that Akaashi would care for him, maybe scold him a little bit. Well, the Akaashi here was doing something similar, but Bokuto had been missing a particular embrace for years and years. He had been searching everywhere for Akaashi, with the help of his friends. Nearly being able to reach out and hug his lover like how he used to made Bokuto feel like he was really living on a bunch of dreams. He rubbed the back of his own head, sighing and knowing that had it been back at home, Akaashi would have sighed and held him nicely or something like that. Bokuto knew that Akaashi typically wasn’t touchy with anyone, but Bokuto was the nicest exception ever.

Akaashi set down a drink beside Bokuto and then sat across from him with his own drink. “Are you alright?” he asked again, concerned. He watched the stranger pick his head up and give it one final rub before nodding carefully. “I don’t know what Sugawara made you, but…drink up. It’s a cold day.” Akaashi said quietly, taking small sips of his own drink.

“Thanks.” Bokuto sighed. “I know I ran right into you. You didn’t really have to do this all for me, you know.” He said, fixing his hoodie and tugging it around the sides so that his aching wings wouldn’t be hurt any more than they were. These tiny little things really gave him such a hard time. Akaashi waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s alright. I don’t blame you.” He said, forgiving the stranger’s hidden apology. Already, he felt like he was speaking too much. Akaashi huffed, looking out the window and drinking contently.

“Oh. I’m Bokuto Koutarou, by the way.” Bokuto said, moving to sit up. Ugh, his body was just aching. At least that didn’t stop him from drinking the warm, sugary drink.

“Akaashi Keiji… Nice to meet you, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi answered absentmindedly. He breathed deeply, closing and opening his eyes slowly before looking over at his new companion, if only for today. “You look familiar.”

Bokuto’s expression brightened incredibly. “Y-You think so?!” he asked, perhaps a little too excited, judging by the confused expression that Akaashi had given him. Bokuto cleared his throat, deciding to start again. “Oh, I just meant that um. I dunno, you looked really familiar to me. I thought it’d be funny if we’d already met before.”

“Oh.” Akaashi answered lamely, giving a small shrug before wrapping his cold fingers around the warm mug. He seemed to be disinterested in the conversation, but instead he was just thinking to himself about some things. This guy obviously wasn’t from this place, was the first thing that Akaashi had decided on. He looked almost like a foreigner, but with a name like his and that sort of appearance too, Akaashi ruled that out. He must’ve been a guy that Akaashi had passed on the street at some point, perhaps. “Maybe. I don’t remember.” He admitted.

Bokuto deflated a little bit, sighing into his cup and shrugging. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” he answered.

They spent a little bit of time like that, silently drinking. Akaashi checked up on Bokuto’s health condition every now and then and the other confirmed that it was alright, that he was doing fine. “Hm… You have really long eyelashes.” Bokuto mumbled to himself from where his cheek was pressed against the table. He was looking up at Akaashi, watching the other blink at him in slight confusion before looking away in either embarrassment or frustration.

“They’re always like that.” Akaashi answered.

“Hm. Maybe.” Bokuto hummed in response. He knew that he was losing Akaashi’s attention rather quickly. He had to think of something quickly. “Hey. Do you like reading?” Bokuto asked.

“I read sometimes, yes.” Akaashi answered, barely glancing at Bokuto.

“The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Did you like it? If you’ve read it, that is.”

“I’ve read it. I thought it taught a really nice lesson.”

Bokuto picked his head up from the table. “Oh? I really loved it…. The whole theme of finding treasure back at home? And then going through those little journeys along the way was just self evaluation.”

“I didn’t think you’d analyze a book that far.” Akaashi admitted. “But it’s interesting. Please continue, Bokuto-san.”

Hook. Line. And sinker.

Bokuto and Akaashi had sat in that little booth long after their drinks were finished. Akaashi had been fueled, speaking and debating with Bokuto because it had interested him. “Then I found it ridiculous that the government would pull something like that, and more ridiculous that the author left it like that.” Akaashi finalized with a nod.

They’d gone onto talking about different kind of books from fantasy books to dystopian ones. “Yeah, I really didn’t like the ending! There was so much more that could have happened.” Bokuto agreed with folded arms and a nod of his head. Really, he didn’t remember a single thing about any of these books besides the things that Akaashi had told him so many years ago. He could only thank god that this Akaashi had the same taste in literature that Akaashi in Bokuto’s world had.

“Ah, are you feeling any better, Bokuto-san?”

“Just a little sore around the wiiii-ssssiides and my head hurts a little bit, but that’s alright.” Bokuto answered with a slight shrug, hoping to cover up for his faulty words. Humans didn’t have wings! He had to keep reminding himself that, especially since Akaashi looked a little concerned. At least he didn’t question it.

“As long as you’re feeling a little better.” Akaashi nodded, letting out a small sigh and fixing his scarf around his neck. “I have a- erm. A pet waiting at home, but I left him outside. It’s starting to worry me, with the cold, so… I’ll be going now.” He explained, starting to get up.

“W-wait!” Bokuto called out, reaching out to hold onto Akaashi’s sleeve. “Is it alright- I mean it’s probably weird but can I have your number? I really liked talking to you about stuff.” he said, being a little hopeful that Akaashi would allow him just this one thing. He knew that if he didn’t ask, then Akaashi wasn’t ever going to ask anyways. It was just how their relationship had worked out in the past. Akaashi blinked at him, pulling his scarf up a little more with his free hand.

After a little bit of silence, Akaashi studied Bokuto’s face for a second and then sighed a “Yeah”.

Bokuto could only feel so amazed, with a number scribbled on his palm and then waving to Akaashi as the other went home. Definitely the same guy he had fallen in love with. Definitely the same person who was the queen, who he was meant to defend and hold, who he was always so happy to be around in return for giving them happiness as well. He felt silly, falling in love over and over again with Akaashi, but that was just how it was.

Akaashi, walking home, pulled his scarf further up on his face. He’d only met Bokuto-san that day. And Akaashi wasn’t the most social person in the world. Even having someone ask for his number was rare in itself, despite the number of admirers that he had had during his lifespan. Bokuto-san had been… interesting. He paid attention to Akaashi and gave thoughtful insight on many things that Akaashi had only barely considered in his own mind. Bokuto-san, although slightly childish at times, was a down to earth person that impressed Akaashi greatly, conflicting with their first collision earlier in the day. Really. Akaashi didn’t favor change, but maybe this was a good kind of change. Akaashi could do for friends anyways.

As expected, when Akaashi had arrived home, Owl-san was on his doorstep, waiting for Akasahi to fish his keys out of his pocket to let the two of them into the warm house so they could possibly thaw out their freezing bodies. Prior to that, Bokuto had transferred the number that Akaashi gave him onto a notepad and left it with Sugawara for safekeeping. He didn’t want to accidentally lose the most important sequence of numbers that he’d ever seen in his life! Akaashi had plopped down onto the couch, wrapping himself up with a blanket that was draped over the back.

Owl-san stayed beside the door. Akaashi didn’t question it.

“I talked to someone other than you today.” Akaashi mumbled. “He was nice.”

And that’s what gave Bokuto the impression that he’d even had a chance.

Bokuto and Akaashi would sit down and talk with each other for the next few days, rambling on about things like this and that, talking about their interests. Bokuto learned so much about this human Akaashi that he couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed and proud at the same time. While they had volleyball back where Bokuto lived, in his own world, it was more intense there because of the wing advantage. Here, humans only were able to get themselves above the net using their legs! He thought it was amazing, constantly feeling proud for Akaashi, a regular setter. They talked and talked, sometimes ordering more than one drink just to spend the time with each other as well. No matter what it was, Bokuto felt extremely happy and privileged to even be sitting right across from Akaashi.

However, Bokuto had to lie about himself. He said he moved in from a different area of the country, that he was finding a place to stay and that he was alright financially. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either. Bokuto really wasn’t lying to Akaashi more than he had wanted to. It was just that trying to conceal wings is more difficult than it should have been, with a loudmouth like Bokuto who was never really good at keeping secrets a secret.

All of that would change in a week.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi is invited somewhere and is given a gift. But hey, doesn't this gift look a little familiar? How strange...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha... I was actually planning on posting one chapter per day but I've sound some flaws in what I already have written. If you see anything wrong anywhere, point it out and i'll fix it promptly. Thank you!

“And I’m absolutely sure you would have died laughing if you saw it for yourself! Really, it was so incredible. So Kuroo had to try and get the damn thing off the roof and his friend, Yaku, was really really mad.” Bokuto laughed, messing around with the sleeves on a hoodie that he had went out to buy himself. After all, he couldn’t just mooch off of Sugawara, that’d be rude. Besides that, Bokuto was having a pretty good time. He had met with Akaashi in the afternoons, at this little cafe. It was cheesy to say the least, sitting in this booth with Akaashi. He grinned brightly, leaning forward a little bit. “So?”

“So what?” Akaashi asked, hiding a laugh by taking a sip of his drink. The story was funny! How could someone not laugh at that anyways. Besides, he was a little glad that his new company didn’t have a concussion from the other day, when he hit his head.

“So, did you like my story?”

“It was… entertaining. But please try not to get things stuck on the roof anymore.”

“Hey, it wasn’t even me that time, it was Kuroo!”

“That time?”

“Okay, fine, fine.” Bokuto laughed wholeheartedly, picking up his drink. He was so happy, just talking to Akaashi again that his wings had almost fluttered happily on his back. But he didn’t want Akaashi to get too suspicious, so he straightened his shoulders and folded those smaller wings against his back again. “Oh, Akaashi!” Bokuto said with another sudden excitement. “My friends and I are going ice skating on Friday. Do you wanna come with us? I’ll introduce you to my friends and stuff.” He noticed Akaashi’s contemplating face. Perhaps it was because Akaashi was in his last year of high school and Bokuto claimed to be a first year in college, so maybe it was the age that put him off. “They’re not too crazy, I promise.”

“I’ll think about it.” Akaashi said with a shrug, looking as indifferent as ever. But if Bokuto was right, that slight quirk of the other’s lips meant that he had at least a small chance. Akaashi didn’t know exactly how to respond to someone he didn’t remember, after all. But he knew that Bokuto-san was an interesting character at least. He didn’t particularly mind spending time with him, just an hour or two a day. First they’d talked about books, and then onto different things and then themselves. It’d only been days talking with Bokuto-san, and Akaashi was enjoying the company, as strange as it seemed for the normally quiet guy.

“Have you been ice skating before?” Bokuto asked, smiling as he took another sip. Really, he just wanted to hear Akaashi talk. Keeping company with him was making Bokuto’s mood skyrocket into extreme happiness. He watched Akaashi hum to himself, thinking about it.

“Yes, I have.” He answered thoughtfully. “Oh, but that was a year ago, in the winter. Yeah, I went with some of the people from volleyball club…” Akaashi said quietly, deciding to tell his own story. Bokuto listened intently, nodding as the other spoke and moved his hands around to explain things.

Sugawara watched from behind the counter, eyes crinkling happily. “He seems to be alright, you know. You can stop getting those little worry lines on your face.” he whispered to Daichi. “Maybe this can work out well. They’ve been talking since forever.”

“Maybe eventually. Right now is just too soon.” Daichi answered, ruffling his feathers out. But really, it was pretty soon. Akaashi and Bokuto had hit a friendly level, that much was true, yet they weren’t entirely close as they had been before. Daichi understood that it took time. Maybe they were all getting a little too hopeful. But as long as Bokuto wasn’t in his sad slump any more, he figured that the kingdoms were all content.

Bokuto and Akaashi talked for a while longer before Akaashi had to dismiss himself, fearing Owl-san’s health. When he had explained it to Bokuto, the other had laughed and Akaashi’s face had flared up red in embarrassment. “I don’t want him to sit out in the snow shivering or getting beaten up by cats.” He justified himself with a slight huff as Akaashi fixed his scarf as he always did when he was preparing himself to leave. Bokuto nodded, eyes sparkling.

“Of course. I won’t hold you to it, Akaashi. Make it home safely, alright?”

“Same to you too, Bokuto-san. Remind me later about the ice skating thing.” He said, excusing himself from the table before heading back home. Like usual, Owl-san was waiting on the doorstep, hopping around a little bit. Akaashi thought that it was only because of the nerves, but really it was because Bokuto was excited and happy, almost acting like a puppy. Akaashi let the two of them inside and they hung out for a while in Akaashi’s room until Akaashi decided that it was time to brush Owl-san.

Bokuto liked the brushies.

Bokuto would speak to Kuroo every night about how much he liked the brushies.

Kuroo thought Bokuto was literally five.

It didn’t matter though, since Bokuto was more than happy to accept it, as long as he was the one getting groomed and paid attention to. “Hey, I told Akaashi that we were going ice skating on Friday or something. Show up if you can, because I think Akaashi would like it. You can bring your friend if you wanna. I think I’ll bring Komi from home and stuff.”

“Sure. But if you make me fall, I will definitely drag you down with me and strangle you on the ice.”

“You’re a good friend, Kuroo.” Bokuto answered, placing a hand over his heart. “I’m so touched.”

 

Their meetings were always like this, no matter how tired Kuroo got of hearing Bokuto admire Akaashi every night. He was good friend. So as the next couple of days and nights passed, Kuroo nodded, letting out uninterested “Oh really?” and “wow.” comments, not bothering to break Bokuto’s little happy streak. Every kingdom had wanted this. All the kingdoms wanted the King of Fukurodani to be happy as he was again, not dragging himself through festivals which were meant to be happy and were instead slightly awkward because of the unhappy smiles which the King had given his subjects. Kuroo had watched his friend simply deteriorate from time to time without Akaashi, who had balanced him out as a whole. Although the kingdoms were peaceful with one another, Kuroo would have slapped Bokuto if he had the chance, simply because of the way he was acting. But telling someone to “get over it” if they watched their lover die was just a heartless thing to do. Thank god Kuroo had a heart. That’s what made him stand outside an iceskating rink one god awful, cold morning, bundled up with his friend Kozume beside him.

Bokuto was just arriving, jogging up to the duo and waving happily over at Kenma and Kuroo. “Hey hey hey!!” he called out happily. “Thanks for coming you guys.” Behind him was a wheezing Komi, hand over his chest as he cursed.

“Your energy is great, Bokuto but maybe if you hadn’t dashed off so quickly, I wouldn’t have almost gotten hit by like two cars.” He said, tugging his jacket over himself with a slight huff.

“Ah, you seem perfectly alright.” Bokuto laughed. “Wait, any news on the crows? Are they heading here too?”

“Sugawara said he’d try to get Sawamura here if he could.” Kenma answered, looking up from his phone. He looked at the people in front of him before letting out a sigh. “I don’t know why you just didn’t ask Yaku to come here. It’s too cold out for me and Yaku likes this weather.” He mumbled under his breath, continuing the little game he was playing on his phone, Geometry Dash, face scrunching up a little bit when his little block character crashed again. He blamed it on distractions.

Kuroo gave an indifferent shrug, shrugging his shoulders upwards to maybe warm up his freezing ears. “Hey look.” He said, relaxing a little bit. “Seems like Sugawara managed to get this stick in the mud over here.” True to what Kuroo said, there was Sugawara, almost dragging a frustrated Daichi behind him. Off to the side though, another person was heading towards their group.

Bokuto had waved to the crows for a second before heading up to Akaashi to greet him first. “Akaashi, I’m really glad you could make it.” He grinned, fixing his own scarf around his neck. This day was extra chilly and Bokuto wanted to finish ice skating already so that they could head somewhere nice and warm again.

Akaashi felt a little out of place. He nodded to Bokuto, politely answering “It was nice of you to invite me.” He glanced past Bokuto, seeing his friends talk and then look in their direction. Hopefully, they wouldn’t take anything wrong out of it. “Those are your friends? Hey, is that Sugawara-san?” Akaashi asked with a quirk of his eyebrows.

“Yeah! C’mon, let me introduce you to them.” Bokuto grinned, making his way over carefully because of the light snow on the ground and well, he really didn’t want to hit his head a second time. Akaashi followed behind him, hands in his pockets. “Okay guys so this is Akaashi.” Bokuto said, gesturing to his friend. It wasn’t like any of the people before him needed and introduction to a guy they already knew, but this was all for Akaashi’s sake. “Akaashi, this is Kuroo, Kenma, Komi, Sawamura and Sugawara but you know him already.” He said, taking the time to gesture to each of them, who replied with a wave or a small greeting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Akaashi answered with a nod, being polite as usual, if not feeling a little awkward being introduced to a crowd who already knew each other.

“That’s over, so let’s skate!” Bokuto smiled, rounding up his friends to go get their skates and such. He knew that skating was going to be such a breeze! Back in Fukurodani, Akaashi and Bokuto used to skate a lot during the winter, in a huge skating rink. The people around would play music and skate with them and it was all a lot of fun. Hoping to recreate those moments, Bokuto asked Akaashi to skate with his friends.

However, skating without using your wings for balance was the hardest shit that Bokuto had ever done.

Just stepping on the ice had Bokuto flailing left and right, using all of his friends as leverage as Akaashi couldn’t help but tease. “I thought you said you knew how to skate? That you skated so many times before, Bokuto-san?” Although he said these things, Akaashi was a little concerned. He didn’t want to let Bokuto hit his head too many times in one week. Surely, that would have been bad. “Just stand up straight at least.”

“I’m really trying.” Bokuto answered with a pout, letting go of the annoyed Daichi who was scolding Bokuto for wanting to ice skate if he didn’t know how. “Hey, I know how! Just… not right now.” He muttered, standing up straight on the ice without falling over and breaking a bone.

“Okay, so can you move?” Akaashi asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Hell yeah, I can just watch…” Bokuto grumbled to himself, taking tiny steps forward before slipping and gripping onto Akaashi, who leaned to the side so he wouldn’t fall down either. “Sorry!”

“That’s fine, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi sighed, trying to get Bokuto’s death grip off of his shoulders. He watched a little kid slide past gracefully and witnessed the all too hilarious look of jealousy that Bokuto had given the kid. Akaashi hid a laugh, coughing to regain that neutral expression that he usually had. He reached for Bokuto’s wrists, prying them off of him so that he wouldn’t fall down. “Okay, stop scrambling around.” he scolded Bokuto who huffed some more. “All you really have to do is slide your feet. It shouldn’t be hard for someone who’s “skated hundreds of times”, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi said, turning himself on his skates so that he could face Bokuto. He adjusted the other’s positions until Bokuto’s arms were outstretched by his sides. “Balance yourself first off.” Akaashi said, letting go of Bokuto’s wrists. When he was sure that his grumbling companion wasn’t going to be falling over anytime soon, he nodded approvingly.

“Am I doing good, huh, Akaashi?” Bokuto asked, eyes sparkling.

“Yes, you are.” Akaashi answered. “You… know that you’re not even moving, right?”

It took another fifteen minutes to get Bokuto to skate around the rink with minor slips here and there that were saved by Akaashi grabbing onto Bokuto’s elbow and helping him to be upright again. Occasionally, Bokuto’s friends would show up and ask Akaashi how Bokuto was doing. “He hasn’t fallen badly yet.” was Akaashi’s answer, with a roll of his eyes. Although Bokuto claimed that he was doing well, most of their skating time was spent with him flailing around and Akaashi helping him to not fall onto his face. But Akaashi didn’t mind. It was entertaining and a little bit fun.

Thankfully, Bokuto was able to skate without seriously injuring himself, and his friends seemed to entertain themselves, poking fun at him. By the end of the skating session, everyone took a seat outside of the rink, feeling a little tired, ankles a little sore. “We have to do this again.” Bokuto said definitely. “And I promise that I’ll skate properly. This was just practice.” He defended himself before Komi could roll his eyes and Akaashi could only lean over and snicker to Komi about one thing or another, probably laughing at Bokuto. Bokuto didn’t care, as long as everyone was having a good time. He knew they didn’t mean it, and they didn’t.

“We could head back to the cafe and I could get us all drinks to warm up.” Sugawara offered. “On me. I don’t have anything else to spend money on anyways.” He shrugged.

The offer was taken up and the crew migrated their way, shivering and complaining about how weird it felt to be walking on solid ground. Akaashi personally felt a little strange with the whole height thing, considering that the ice skates added a couple of inches to his height. That didn’t matter much after everyone had settled down and Sugawara had talked to his coworker at the counter. They squeezed themselves into a booth that wasn’t occupied, with Akaashi against the window and Bokuto beside him so that his friends could sit across from them and Sugawara and Sawamura could pull up a chair at the end.

Akaashi waited patiently, scrolling through some things on his phone, not wanting to interrupt Kuroo and Bokuto’s mindless chatter. He glanced up at Kenma and saw he was doing a similar thing, being on his phone. The chatty duo beside them didn’t seem to mind much. “Hey, whatcha doing?” Bokuto said, leaning over to take a look at Akaashi, who only did much as glance up at him. “Marblejasper… Marblejasper?”

“Tumblr.” Akaashi answered simply, putting his phone down. “I don’t do much other than like posts, if you’re concerned.”

“Oooh, I don’t have one of those. It’s a blog right? Hey, Akaashi, will you help me make one? Then I can like your posts or whatever!” Bokuto smiled. Sugawara and Sawamura came over with a ton of drinks though, saving Akaashi from answering. The warm cups were handed out and Akaashi let a small sigh of relief has his chilly fingers wrapped themselves around his cup. A small chorus of “thanks” was brought up and mindless chatter resumed as it was.

Akaashi worried a little bit. He’d been out of the house for a good portion of the day and Owl-san was probably still sitting on the front door. That is, if his parents weren’t home yet, which Akaashi certainly doubted that they even considered coming home. Usually, it was just him in the house. Having this company… it was nice. Besides worrying for Owl-san, having this company made Akaashi feel a little happy. Well, he was squished between Bokuto-san’s overly warm side and the too-cold window, but it brought back something that he recognized as being familiar. Pinpointing it was impossible, though. He let out a soft sigh.

Their day out had ended after they were long finished with their drinks, nice and warm. They loitered in the cafe for some time before slowly making their way outside, talking in the light snow before parting ways. “Akaashi!” Bokuto called as the other had turned to leave. Akaashi raised an eyebrow and Bokuto quickly cleared his throat, speaking a little softer. “Akaashi. Hey, I remember you telling me that your birthday was earlier this month. And since I think we’re friends now, right? So I got you this gift.” He said, pulling out a small case from his pocket. “Just some things to make up for the ones you said you lost before.” He explained with a shrug, depositing it into Akaashi’s hands.

“Oh.” Akaashi said. “This is…”

Bokuto grinned, putting his hand on his hips, feeling all too proud. He couldn’t wait until Akaashi said something like ‘thoughtful’ or ‘perfect’ or something.

“Really cheesy.”

“I’m so glad that you like it Akaashi, I- wait what-”

Akaashi laughed a little bit, pocketing his gift. “Really cheesy, for a first gift. But I really like it. It’s to replace the one I told you I broke, right? Thank you, Bokuto-san. I promise to keep it safe.” he smiled softly. He watched Bokuto’s bewildered expression go from confused to understanding and then to a huge grin filled with happiness.

“I’m really glad you like it!” Bokuto exclaimed. “No matter how cheesy it is, aha…” he laughed nervously. “Maybe we can meet up again sometime soon and I’ll give you a less cheesy gift, hm?”

“Bokuto-san. if you plan on asking someone on a date, you have to do that stuff properly.” Akaashi said, waving at the surprised person. “Make it home safely. I’ll talk to you later.” he waved goodbye, heading off towards his house, gift in his pocket.

After a little bit of walking, Akaashi put his hand over his mouth. How embarrassing!! How very embarrassing! His face was so red, all the way up to his ears. He’d only met Bokuto-san a week previously, considering themselves to be friends at a minimum but really, if Bokuto-san had arranged all of this and had stayed to talk to him day after day, then what else was it? To Akaashi, who hadn’t been shown much attention aside from volleyball this confused him incredibly and he pulled his scarf up to hide his red, red face. How embarrassing! Bokuto-san was his friend, if anything.

Bokuto was left in the dust, blinking. What was all that about? Oh god, how embarrassing!! How very embarrassing! His face was so red, all the way up to his ears. He’d only reunited with Akaashi a week before, still wanting to introduce himself some more if anything, which was why he stayed after all those afternoons to just talk with Akaashi and tell stories. Thinking about it again… what else was Akaashi supposed to think it was? To Bokuto, who acted so casually around Akaashi like he normally did, he could only guess that Akaashi who couldn’t remember him was confused and- oh this really was Bokuto’s fault. How embarrassing! Akaashi was the person he really, loved. After all of this though, it wasn’t like he was complaining. Bokuto would have been more than happy to talk Akaashi on an actual date, if anything.

Akaashi was already at his home, lips pressed together in concentration as he had thought it through. Maybe he hadn’t interpreted it incorrectly? He didn’t have to know Bokuto since forever in order to be brought on a date, perhaps. There was some familiarity from Bokuto-san that Akaashi had caught onto after the other told his magnificent stories and spoke with Akaashi like he was actually interested. Still, he was so flustered, heading into his house and almost closing the door on Owl-san, who barely made it inside. He head upstairs, taking off his many bundles of warm clothing and then taking his gift out of his pocket, setting it on his desk. For a person who was usually so stoic, keeping company with Bokuto had taken away that usual emotionless front he put up and made Akaashi feel more interested in conversations. He tucked his phone into his desk drawer, thinking that he was too embarrassed to do or say anything for the rest of the day.

Instead, he sat cross legged on his bed and looked at the small gift, a watch whose face had been fixed after Akaashi carelessly dropped it on the floor during the week. “How… did he even get the watch in the first place?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> marblejasper, huh? How weird...


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is this strange dream? It's making Akaashi so, so confused. Maybe he should just forget about. Just forget about. Just forget about it.... he can't forget about it. And then something happens to reinforce that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of time skips in this, just so I could get to where I wanted to be without having pointless chapters. It's been a while since I've updated!! Please enjoy. Also!! I have a writing blog. candlequartz.tumblr.com  
> There, I'll answer questions and stuff or post updates and yeah;; idk.

Akaashi couldn’t even look at his phone. Oh no, that was embarrassing. That night, he lay down in bed and stared at the ceiling for probably the longest time ever. But in this state, it gave him time to think about things for himself. Like one of Bokuto’s friends. He hadn’t pointed it out earlier but he was entirely sure, with every fiber in his being that Kenma or whoever it was with the phone that he always played on was definitely that guy who was picking up his cat or whatever on Akaashi’s lawn like a week ago. And he already knew Sugawara from heading over to his work and stuff. But even meeting that blond guy again was the weirdest thing, Akaashi thought. And it was even weirder that he’d thrown that busted up watch into a drawer the moment he’d broken it up. He didn’t remember bringing Bokuto the watch in the first place.

Well he didn’t really question it when he was out having a good time yesterday, since he was just happy to get the watch back, and in such great condition too. Maybe… Okay, Akaashi gave in. He stood up and then roughly opened his desk drawer, grumbling as he checked his phone. It was filled with a ton of miscellaneous messages from Bokuto-san, asking if he made it home alright and gracefully dancing around the topic of Akaashi’s traitorous mouth and what he’d said earlier too. Akaashi sighed. He placed his phone to charge and then crawled back in bed. Maybe tomorrow, he could ask Bokuto-san about it all. He turned onto his side, facing the wall, and pulled the blankets up higher onto his cold shoulders. He hugged onto a pillow and then fell asleep.

 

_“Aren’t you just excited, Keiji? I’m just so happy for you!” Cried a woman who wrapped her arms around her son. She tried to hide her happy tears but they just wouldn’t stay and her makeup ran a little bit. “My son, please be happy and remember your parents, okay?”_

_Akaashi was confused. He blinked, looking around. This place wasn’t his home. This house was huge. The ceilings were tall and the floors were tile. There were huge windows everywhere and his mother was crying. He wanted to ask what was going on, instead his voice answered “It’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m leaving forever either.” His mother only nodded and hugged onto him some more. He reached around her to return the hug, almost frightened when he felt something strange on her back. He wanted to ask what it was but his body instead let go and leaned down so that his mother could fix his clothing. What? Why was he wearing something so strange?_

_Akaashi panicked in his mind as his mouth and body moved to their own accord, saying things and moving around this strange home. Before the images faded out, Akaashi saw himself in a mirror beside the door. Dressed head to toe in the most beautiful of things, jewels hanging from his neck and sewed into parts of his clothing and two very large wings against his back._

_“I know your father isn’t here to walk you down the aisle but- oh Keiji I might just cry some more!”_

_When the images came back in, Akaashi was staring down rows and rows of chairs, the ends of each decorated with flowers here and there. There were so many flowers and petals lay along the floor. People were facing him. What was he doing? Akaashi walked down the floor, something dragged behind him. He guessed it was the wings. He was holding something. He was holding flowers. Akaashi blinked. The corners of his vision were blurry, so blurry, and everything passed by in a flash that he found himself so dizzy and he was bending forward. A man was in front of him, he placed something on Akaashi’s head. “...of Fukurodani, Akaashi Keiji.”_

_There was applauding, a lot of applauding and Akaashi stood to face the extremely large crowd. People hollered and he could see feathers but he couldn’t see anyone’s face. It was all blurry and bright and Akaashi turned to look some more. He was restricted. He was holding someone’s hand. “I’m so happy.” he heard the whisper and Akaashi could feel himself nod and repeat the same thing. What was going on? Looking back out at the people, he suddenly felt himself rushing, rushing upwards, and then looking down, he found those people tiny and he found arms around his own and happy laughing everying._

_“Keiji, Keiji, I love you so much!”_

 

Akaashi woke up, placing a hand over his chest and releasing the blankets that he’d fisted with his other hand. He jumped slightly, startled by a scratching at the window and then the disappearance of a cat’s tail. Dammit, not that cat again… He pulled his blankets away and shuffled to the window, looking outside to find no cat there at all. Oh how surprising. Groggily, he stumbled towards his desk and took a seat, turning on the desklamp with a wince at the brightness. After finding a stray piece of paper and a pen, he began to write everything down.

It didn’t take him long to almost nod off at his desk. He was back in his bed after a few minutes of scribbling, tugging the blankets back over his freezing toes and chilled shoulders so that he could give into this defeat. He hadn’t had those weird dreams in such a long time. When he was a first year in high school, he used to dream of images of the sky, and those crowds and noises just swarmed his head until he dragged himself to school, half awake.

His mom was there. She was happy and crying, and then there was an aisle full of flowers and a whole ton of people. Something about a place called ‘Fukurodani’. Someone was holding his hand, someone was talking to him, someone was happy, someone was laughing, was smiling, was holding him someone was- “Bokuto-san.”

 

That next morning, instead of shying away like Akaashi would normally have done, he started to bundle himself up, tucking the stray ends of his scarf into his jacket to him him warm. He was silent. His parents had already rushed off for work or whatever they did to get away from him. Akaashi didn’t care. He clicked his tongue when the laces on his boots wouldn’t tie properly. He’d nearly forgotten about Owl-san. Akaashi wasn’t heartless either. He put his watch on, fixing it around his wrist before locking the door and heading back to that small cafe.

It hardly took any time to get his drink and sit down in front of Bokuto who seemed to be waiting. “Hello.” he said, looking at the distracted looking person in front of him.

“Oh. Hi, Akaashi.” Bokuto said, smiling over at him with a slight tilt of his head. “I see you made it home safely last night?”

“Yes. I did.” Akaashi answered, eyes dropping to his cup instead of at Bokuto. He remembered that dream well enough but had to refresh himself about it earlier that morning. They sat there silently for a long while. Bokuto only drank from his own cup every now and then, mostly just looking outside at the people passing by and then checking on Akaashi who wouldn’t meet his expression every now and then. After another round of silence, Bokuto let out a heavy sigh.

“If it’s about what you said, I’m not upset or anything.” Bokuto answered, resting his head on a hand, looking at Akaashi with that tilted position. “If anything, you were pretty much right. I should’ve asked you on a proper date. So I’ll do that right now, because there’s this movie that I think you might like. That’s why you’re silent right now, isn’t it?” He asked, frowning just a little bit, completely over being embarrassed at all. Bokuto was concerned. Akaashi shook his head and Bokuto frowned some more. He put his elbows on the table, leaning forward to look at him. “Got somethin’ on your mind, Akaashi?” He asked quetly.

Akaashi let out a small sigh, looking up at Bokuto. His neutral expression threw Bokuto off a little bit. “Just a weird dream I had. It doesn’t matter.” he explained with a slight wave of his hand. “I’ll take you up on your offer though, if that’s fine.”

Boktuo pursed his lips, looking at Akaashi and examining his expression until Akaashi became a little embarrassed and looked away. Bokuto gave in, shrugging. “I’m perfectly fine with that. You’re a really interesting guy, Akaashi. I think I wanna go out with you.”

 

Although their conversations from that point forward weren’t as awkward as Akaashi had expected it all to be, Akaashi had held his tongue and hadn’t mentioned anything that he’d wanted to ask about earlier. He didn’t ask about Kenma or the watch or that weird dream with Bokuto in it. He tried to convince himself that those were petty details, that he didn’t need to find out what it was. It didn’t matter. He tried to convince himself that they didn’t matter, that all he had to do was see if he could get some things normally out of Bokuto instead of just asking him about it. But wasn’t that manipulative? Akaashi felt guilty. He thought that Bokuto really was a nice person, and he wasn’t just doing this for his personal benefit. It seemed that Bokuto had liked him as well. Maybe it was for the best that he shoved down those questioning thoughts and refused to bring them back up.

Akaashi forgot about it.

Days passed and then weeks passed. Christmas passed and Bokuto had gotten him a scarf to make up for the one that he accidentally spilled something on when they had gone out somewhere to eat. Akaashi opened up to Bokuto, just little by little. He talked about his somewhat problematic family, that his parents were always gone and they left money for him to deal with things himself, that he was expected to excel, that he was stressed that he didn’t know what to do something that he couldn’t balance all of his responsibilities. Bokuto was a good listener, Akaashi learned. He was also very good at giving advice and letting Akaashi’s silent anger just fizzle out bit by bit. They didn’t meet up every day, but it was frequent enough that Akaashi had been asked by his friends if he’d found someone special. Akaashi always denied it.

Akaashi forgot about it.

As time continued, Akaashi and Bokuto had gotten closer. Often times, they would meet up at that little cafe, take their drinks to go and sit and play some video games in Akaashi’s living room. Once, his mother had gotten home early and regarded the two as if she’d thought Bokuto was Akaashi’s friend since his childhood. With Bokuto’s intuition about Akaashi, it wasn’t that far of a guess, really. Time passed and instead of sitting at separate ends of the couches, they would share a blanket and Bokuto’s legs would be thrown over Akaashi’s lap. Bokuto would sit horizontally and Akaashi would rest his elbows on Bokuto’s legs, not caring as they played video games.

Akaashi tried to forget about it.

He still had dreams. It wasn’t like it was easy to ignore those sort of things. Even after Akaashi had been accepted into the university that he wanted and Bokuto had kissed him for the first time and Akaashi had gone just positively red, those strange dreams wouldn’t go away. He would talk to Owl-san every now and then, still brushing him. He sat back on his bed, having bought a little better equipment. “Owl-san…” he said quietly, one night, sitting back on his bed. “Things… are good, Owl-san…” he added, setting down the brush to feel the owl’s feathers. The creature almost seemed to just press happily into his hand. Akaashi smiled softly.

Things were good. They were getting better. Akaashi wasn’t as stressed out as he used to be. He was becoming a better volleyball player. He had someone to support him and never once did he feel like he was about to fall. His grades were great as usual and it wasn’t because he was worrying over every single little thing anymore. Bokuto really was a man of wonders, Akaashi thought, to get himself to relax like that yet be determined for the future. Akaashi appreciated the other’s presence and guidance through things, as well as the immediate comfort that came whenever Akaashi was afraid or hurting about something. Their relationship was strange, Akaashi thought, because they’d met in December. All this time had passed and Akaashi had just thrown his trust into Bokuto so quickly.

Akaashi was actually pretty satisfied with things at that moment. He had a lazy smile on his face. “Thanks, Owl-san…” he murmured, for no particular reason at all. Then, simply because he was feeling like a great person that day, he leaned in to give the bird a slight peck on the beak.

 

Suddenly, a while gust of air appeared, as long as some steam that Akaashi had closed his eyes over, feeling scared. When he opened his eyes again, he had an incredulous expression to find Bokuto right there. “What the hell?!” he had asked, scrambling backwards a little bit. “Owl-san- Is-” he stammered, looking around in search for the bird and instead he found Bokuto, trying his best to hide his red face and his large- large _wings?!_ “Bokuto!” Akaashi snapped, “Bokuto, what’s going on?!”

Akaashi’s normally relaxed expression was scrunched up between bits of anger, confusion, and of course, extreme embarrassment. Bokuto fumbled around, trying not to get his wings, much larger than he would’ve liked them to be. Bokuto flapped them around, cursing. “Oh shit- shit, Akaashi wait close your eyes or something, holy shit- Keiji, pleeeaasse dont’ give me that look come on, just gimme a second to get these away h-hold on, I just-!”

If Akaashi even had the capacity to scream, he’d be shrieking. “You- you’re- y-”

“Shhh, Keiji this is really totally weird and I get that but you’re freaking me out and you’re freaking yourself out too.” Bokuto said, trying to flatten his wings against his back. Akaashi went to open his mouth, probably to yell or something and Bokuto waved his arms about “No! Nonono Keiji please trust me I-”

“You disguise yourself as an owl and then you stay inside my house for all this time-- are you serious right now?!” Akaashi asked harshly. “What the hell is going on, huh?! You shouldn’t even have wings, things like that only exist in dreams!”

“Yeah, yeah, this looks, fuck, no it looks reeeaaally bad I mean this is probably really bad but Keiji, if-”

“If _what,_ Bokuto-san?”

“If… Please.” Bokuto’s wings slumped against the floor. “Please let me remind you.”


End file.
